Kent County Theatre Guild goes to church with 'Hallelujah Girls'

When you combine TV shows like “The Golden Girls” and “Designing Women,” you'll get an idea of Kent County Theatre Guild's new play, “The Hallelujah Girls.”

Andre Lamarandre.lamar@doverpost.com@302DoAndre

When you combine TV shows like "The Golden Girls" and "Designing Women," you'll get an idea of Kent County Theatre Guild's new play, "The Hallelujah Girls."

The show, directed by Paul Janiga, will be presented all this weekend and most of next at the Patchwork Playhouse. The final show date is Saturday, Nov. 23.

Death can really put things into perspective. It's particularity had a great impact on Sugar Lee Thompkins, leader of a close-knit group of five colorful, middle-aged women. There used to be six in the clique but one of them has passed away.

Realizing life is too short to waste, Thompkins seeks to make the dreams of the group come true. But first, she seeks to accomplish her own personal goal. Thompkins purchases a church and converts it into a day spa. Owning a day spa is something she's always wanted. Now Thompkins and the girls have a new place to gossip at. But this might not last for long because Thompkins' rival, Bunny, wants the shop for herself.

Becki Polk, cast as Bunny, does a fine job playing a girl the audience will love to hate in "The Hallelujah Girls."

"I come on the stage, make everybody mad, piss everybody off, and then I leave," said Polk, of Milford. "I'm just mean to everyone."

There's a deep-seated reason for Bunny's hate toward Thompkins.

"There's always been a conflict between the two of us going back to grade school," Polk said. "She gave me the chickenpox in kindergarten."

In between Bunny's rudeness, "The Hallelujah Girls" is laced with humorous jokes that make light of women aging.

Among them are "you should go bra-less: it'll get the wrinkles out of our faces" or "maybe we're older but we still have everything we had 20 years ago," said Kathy DeLong, of Dover, who's playing Thompkins.

DeLong and her cast mates find the lines in the play so comedic that sometimes they don't have to pretend during rehearsal.

"The lines in this are very catered toward women being able to make fun of themselves, and have a good time," Thompkins said. "So it kind carries over to us [on stage]. We kind of laugh at the lines for real."